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The wide variety of uniforms and uniform items is notable. The three stripes at the end of the sleeve denote seaman first class, two denote second class. The shoulder watch mark on the seated SN - fifth from left in whites - reveals that he is assigned to the port watch.

Looks like these guys were no more fastidious about doing up all the buttons than I was when I used to wear them. The ships USS New Orleans and USS Newport were involved in the recent conflict with Spain.

I was in the Brooklyn Navy Yard about 10 years ago as a software rep servicing a client. The place was a vast ghost town of many different and unusual decaying buildings, and apparently a haven for crime. They wouldn't let me walk around alone and I had to check my car from the window every hour or so. Some of the remaining buildings that were in passable shape were being used for small businesses. If the walls could talk that place would still have my ear.

So far I've been able to make out the U.S.S. Newport, the New Orleans (front row seated rt. of center), and the Yankee (second row far right) and what I think is the Cincinnati (back row center). Front row seated third from left and second row fourth from right are sailors on which ships?

The blue uniforms are about the same with piping and 13 button pants. Several are probably boatswain mates because of their pipe lanyards. One may be a marine and another an officer. The guy in blue on the right gets the respect of everybody. And a couple may have have been in the Civil War.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.